Players’ lack of motivation cost Mourinho – Ancelotti

Chelsea sacked Mourinho last week after a poor run of results that sees the Blues hovering only three points above the Premier League drop zone after 17 games.

His sacking has led to much finger pointing amongst fans, with some accusing the players of dropping their effort levels.

Ancelotti, who will take over as Bayern Munich boss at the end of the season, thinks it is a tough job to get players motivated again after a successful season.

“That is the most difficult job for a coach because within a group, both one that is doing well and one that is doing badly, there are always problems to resolve,” Ancelotti told Goal.

“When things are going well, there is a risk of relaxation; when things are going badly, obviously there is a loss of confidence. The coach must always keep a good balance in that sense, lifting the confidence levels particularly when things don’t seem to be working.

“It’s a little of this that Mourinho paid for, the fact that the team had not started like last year, when they had a tremendous desire to do well after a bad year.

“This year it was exactly the opposite; he paid for the lack of motivation among the players.”